Oliver Slawson enters his third season at Coastal Carolina and as the Chanticleers associate head coach. He came to CCU from Ashland University where he was the men’s soccer coach from 2016-19.
Slawson helped usher the Chants through the pandemic season that saw the Chants play in both the fall and spring season. Along the way, CCU picked up another regular season at tournament championship in the Sun Belt, leading the way to the 2021 NCAA National Championship.
He started the program at Ashland in 2016 and led the Eagles to the 2018 Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) Tournament championship and earned the program’s first-ever NCAA Division II Championship Tournament berth.
Under his guidance, Ashland was also successful in the classroom as the Eagles were a Collegiate Team Academic Award winner named by the United Soccer Coaches for the third consecutive year in 2018-19.
While leading the Eagles, Ashland produced 10 all-conference performers, 10 all-conference academic selections, and 15 all-conference academic excellent recipients, including the 2018 Ohio Collegiate Soccer Association Academic Athlete of the Year.
Before starting the program at Ashland, Slawson spent the previous decade on the coaching staff at Akron, which culminated in his final season with a trip to the 2015 NCAA Championship Final Four.
Akron compiled a 171-31-23 record during his tenure on staff and advanced to the national championship game in both 2009 and 2010. The Zips also recorded nine consecutive MAC Tournament titles from 2007-2015.
In those nine consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances, the Zips earned a first-round bye in six of those seasons and advanced to the NCAA’s Round of 15 in six of those years.
“Oliver brings a ton of experience in terms of recruiting and coaching the very best NCAA Division I elite-level student-athletes throughout the world,” Docking said. “Coach Slawson’s coaching accomplishments and standards could not be higher and he has coached and learned from so many great coaches throughout his years here in the states. He is tremendously competitive and will bring so many great cultural ideas and themes that fits in with our progressive modes of success here with the Coastal Carolina men’s soccer program. I am thrilled and excited that he has chosen to be a part of our continued success that we have had throughout the program’s history.
Slawson saw 29 players from Akron selected in the Major League Soccer draft or sign other professional contracts. Former Zip DeAndre Yedlin became the first Akron alum to appear in the World Cup match for the United States in 2014.
Additionally, another 13 Zips had their names called during the first round of the MLS SuperDraft, including five of the first eight picks in the 2011 draft.
Slawson is also the current head coach for the U.S. Youth Soccer Association Olympic Development Program's Region III Boys side and is the assistant coach of the Boys ODP U17 National Team.
Soccer runs in the family, as his wife Michelle played soccer collegiately at Heidelberg University, He has a stepson, Parker who played collegiate baseball at Heidelberg, making an NCAA World Series appearance and a son Carson, born in August 2015.
